Dance review: The Sleeping Beauty

View full sizeBlaine Truitt CovertOregon Ballet Theatre presents classical beauty amid fairytale splendor in "The Sleeping Beauty," Christopher Stowell's world-premiere staging of one of ballet's great touchstones. Gavin Larsen (with raised arm) and company artist Javier Ubell (foreground) are seen here in the production, with other dancers in the background.

Oregon Ballet Theatre proved three points when the company opened its 21st season with Christopher Stowell's fresh and witty staging of the Petipa-Tchaikowsky classic, "The Sleeping Beauty." Live music, played well is essential to ballet. High art can be hugely entertaining to watch. And, like Princess Aurora, this company has truly come of age.

Alison Roper as the pivotal Lilac Fairy, Yuka Iino as Aurora, and Chauncey Parsons as Prince Florimund all performed with the classical purity and musicality their roles demand. Soloists, too, mostly kept the tone of lighthearted ease; and the ensemble dancing, while ragged in places (the Prologue's Fairy Cavaliers; the Vision scene's Nymphs) was generally unified. Michael Mazzola's lights enhanced the handsome sets and costumes, borrowed from Ballet West.

From the fiendishly difficult fairy variations of the Prologue to the story book divertissements of the third act, this rendering of the great 19th century classic is an immense amount of fun. While Stowell is certainly respectful of the tradition in his staging, it contains not a whiff of pomposity, pedantry or pretention. Moreover, he gives plenty of leeway to individual interpretation, making this a very American Beauty.

The Fairy variations of the Prologue are an example of this. Roper, warm and regal, danced with calm assurance in choreography that calls for immense control. You know from the moment she begins to dance, well before Carabosse spoils the christening party, that she's the one in charge here, like the mother of a large unruly family. Anne Mueller, performing the famous "finger" variation as the Fairy of Charm, Martina Chavez as the Fairy of Wit, Ansa Deguchi as the Fairy of Serenity, were charming and funny, having a swell time with the steps.

As Carabosse, Gavin Larsen reveled in being evil, her green make-up and costume reminiscent of one of the wicked witches in "The Wizard of Oz," another American touch. Javier Ubell, the iconic Puck in Stowell's "Midsummer Night's Dream," looked like a classically trained gremlin as her chief attendant, making the most of a small role.

Fast forward 16 years to Act One, and Princess Aurora's birthday ball. Enter a radiant Iino, who dances with hoydenish delight. She 's showing off in a most un-aristocratic manner, her port de bras (arm movements) extraordinarily boneless and fluid, her speed and precision impressive to say the least. That she's capable of behaving herself is demonstrated in the famous Rose Adagio, a tour de force that tests a dancer's balance, and which she passed with flying colors. The four Suitors, Brennan Boyer, Brian Simcoe, Christian Squires and Lucas Threefoot, having each brought her one perfect rose, are given no opportunity to court her, however, because once again Carabosse crashes the party, giving Aurora the dreaded spindle hidden in a bouquet of flowers. She's delighted of course, spindles having been kept away from her, and the curse is fulfilled, mitigated by the Lilac Fairy who appears in a burst of lavender light, sending the princess and the court into a century of sleep and Carabosse to perdition in a red glow that reminded me of the end of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni, or alternatively, a Disney movie.

There was nothing Disney-like about Parsons' first entrance in Act II, as he came bounding onto the stage with the presence and panache of the great Russian dancers, but without the bombast. His performance, in this act and the third act 's Grand Pas de Deux was technically perfect, musically eloquent, and a joy to watch. I'm not fond of the Vision Scene in this ballet, in which a bored and no doubt spoiled Prince, on an outing with his retinue, gets drafted by the Lilac Fairy into awakening the sleeping princess, but I couldn't take my eyes off Parsons or Roper or Iino either, once she appeared, because of the details of the staging. One example, Aurora, who after all is still asleep, and dances dreamily, at one point leans on the Lilac Fairy, getting her balance, a wonderful contrast to the Rose Adagio, in which she showed her physical independence.

What Act Three's Grand Pas de Deux revealed, apart from stunning dancing from both Iino and Parsons, was the birth of a great partnership. I look forward to watching them dance together for years to come. As for the storybook divertissements that preceded the Grand Pas, Puss in Boots, danced by Stephen Houser and Andrea Cooper was thoroughly feline in quality and quite funny. While Deguchi delivered one of her best performances ever as Princess Florine, opening night jitters no doubt caused Lucas Threefoot's disappointing rendition of Bluebird, the ballet's most challenging male variation. I'm betting he'll nail it in future performances.

Certainly, under the expert baton of Niel DePonte, the orchestra nailed Tchaikowsky's great score and the opening night audience was profoundly appreciative. It should also be noted that the opening night audience was so gripped by this ballet, long as it is (run time with one intermission is two hours and 45 minutes) that I heard no fidgeting, no coughing, and saw no squirming by the children who were up way past their bedtimes. So much for classics being out of date.